Wire feeding apparatus



Jall- 12 1965 H. T. CAMPBELL ETAI. 3,165,207

WIRE FEEDING APPARATUS 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 8, 1961 IN v EN TERE H. T. CAMPBELL ETAI. 3,165,207

Jan. 12, 1965 IRE FEEDING APPARATUS 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 8, 1961 m...|||| HW Jan. l2, 1965 Filed Dec. 8, 1961 H. T. CAMPBELL. ETAL.A 3,165,207

WIRE FEEDING APPARATUS 5' sheets-sheet 3 .il-Ll:

INV EN frm/Q5 H. T' 5pm/:EE 1-f ...L mNFW-FN l. 1:1. QUEDEQ i QT TCF/veg United States Patent 3,165,207 WRE FEEDING APPARATUS Hobart T. Campbell and Jack J. Monahan, Allentown,

and Joseph A. Roeder, Quakertown, Pa., assignors 'to Western Electric Company Incorporated, New York,

N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Dec. 8, 1961, Ser. No. 158,052 2 Claims. (Cl. 214-1) This invention relates to wire feeding apparatus, particularly apparatus for feeding wires of predetermined lengths to nests of a component assembly machine.

l Inthe manufacture of certain types of electrical cornponents, the leads therefor must be cut in predetermined lengths from a supply of wire which has been straightened. In some instances, such as during the manufacture of certain types of varistors where the parts are assembled innests in turret-type machines, the wires or leads must be moved in predetermined order into the nests relative to the'depositing of other portions ofthe components in the nests. In the present instance, one lead wire is to be deposited in one portion of each nest after which wafers are positioned in the nest on one end portion of the iirst wire and then a second lead wire is to be located in the nest with one end portion disposed on the wafers and the first lead. These actions present problems regarding the ethcient advancement of wires to feeding stations relative to nests located in those stations, the cutting of lengths from the wires, and the placing of the lengths of wires in the nests free of disturbance to the Wires or to other portions of the assembly in the nests.

An objectrof the present invention is the Vsolution to those problems by the provision of the apparatus which, although simple in structure, is highly etiicient in accomplishing these desired results.

.According to the object, the invention comprises a wire feeding apparatus in combination with a turret rotated intermittently between intervals of rest to` locate Wirereceiving nests, having upwardly extending projections and disposed at .spaced radially positioned locations on the turret at a feeding station. The apparatus includes a feeder supportedv for movement between a receiving position-anda feeding position to receive a'length of wire at the receiving position and transfer lthe length of wire to a predetermined portionof the nest at the feeding position where means actuates thefeeder into openA position to release the length of wire; .In' the present instance, spaced unitsof the apparatus feedlen'gths to different portions of the nests at spaced feeding stations.' f

Other objects and. advantages will be apparent from lthe following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. l is a schematic top plan viewrof the apparatus shown in combination with an intermittently movable 'turret having radially positioned neststhereon;

5', showan enlarged vertical sectional view taken substantially along the line` A -A of FIG. l; and. FIG. 6 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view illustrating the feeder. v i f In assembling the present type of components, two lead wires of predetermined lengths which, in the present instance, are like lengths, are to be fed to spaced portions 16 and 1f1'of nests indicated generally at 12 mounted at radially spaced positions on .a turret 14. The turret 14 is supported at 15 for movement intermittently between intervals of rest to locate the nests 12 at diametrically opposed feeding stations,rindicated generally at 16 and 17, where lengths of wire 18-from Wires 19 and 2t) are to be cut and located in their respective portions 10 and 11 of the nests. The apparatus is rcomposed of two like units 21 and 22 3,165,267 Patented dan. 12, 11965 "ice adapted to supply the lengths 18 of their respective wires 19 and 2li, to the feeding stations 16 and 17, respectively. Due to the fact that these units are identical, the unit 21, shown in combined FIGS. 2, 3, and 4, and FIG. 6, will be dened in detail and it will be understood that the descripftion of this unit will apply to the unit 22. The units, however, are located at different positions relative to the turret so that they will feed lengths of wires 18 to their respective portions 10 and 11. n The unit 21 has brackets 25 and 26 mounted on a bed 27 which supports the turret 14 and its supporting means 15. A horizontal member 28 is mounted on the brackets and 26 and has means at one end to rotatably support a supply reel 29 for the wire 20 including not only a spindle 30, but a suitable ybrake means composed of a drum 31 xed to the spindle 30 and a spring actuated brake band 32 acting on the drum to create a predetermined tension in the wire 2d as it is pulled from the supply. Furthermore, wire straightening units 33 and 34 are mounted in different planes on the horizontal member 28. A holdy ing finger 36, pivotally supported at 37 to a bracket 38 mounted on the horizontal member 28, is urged by a spring 39 to engage the wire Ztl to permit the wire to be pulled to the right but to prevent movement of the wire to the left. The bracket 38 is provided with wire guiding apertures 4t) and 41 disposed before and after the nger.

A carriage 43 is supported on the horizontal member for movement between guides 44, only one of which is shown, tocontrol movement of the carriage from a back position shown in broken lines and the forward position shown in solid lines. T-he means to impart this movement to the carriage originates with a drive shaft 46 `driven at predetermined intervals relative to the intervals of rest of the turret 14 by suitable means, not shown.

An eccentric 47 is tixedly mounted to the shaft 46 and,

has one end of an arm 48 connected thereto, the other end of the arm being connected at 49 to `the lower end of a rocking lever Sil. The rocking lever Stl is adjustably supported at 51 on a spindle 52, mounted on the bracket 25, its position being varied relative to the spindle by adjusting means including a plate 53 having a block-like f 55 FIGS.- 2, 3, and 4, .whengrouped as illustrated in FIG.

about its pivot by a spring 71.

bearing 51, the plate being movable relative to the lever and secured in any desired position by screws 54 extending through elongated apertures S5 of the lever 5t). The upper end of the lever 5t) is bifurcated at 56 to straddle a roller 57 mounted on a spindle 58 supported by a downwardly extending army 59 of the carriage 43. During onehalf cycle of the eccentric 47, the carriage 43 will beA pivotally supported at 65 on the bracket 62, and normally urged by a spring 66 to force the wire against the surface 63 during forward movement of the carriage to cause feeding of the desired length 18 of the wire. The linger 64 has a cam-like tooth 68 positioned to be engaged by a latch 69 pivotally supported at 'itl and urged clockwise,

In the present illustration, the carriage has moved ',to

its forward position where the length 18 is cut from the wire. The cutting means includes a knife or cutter`73 mounted on a slide' 74, movable vertically between guides 75, only one of which is shown, xed to the bracket 62. The lower end of the cutter 73 is provided with a suitable slide 74 is supported by a link 78, the upper end of which is connected at 79 to a member 80 fixed to a piston rod 81 of an air cylinder 82.. The opposite end of the a1r cylinder 82 from the member 80 is pivotally supported at 83 on the bracket 62. The connect-ion 79 of the member 80 is in the form of a spindle pivotally connecting both the upper end ofthe link 78 and the lower end of a lever 8S to the piston rod`81. The lever 85 is pivotally supported at 86 on a vertical arm of a bracket 62 and has a projection 87 positioned to engage an adjustable stop 88 to cooperate with the air cylinder 82 in varying the stroke of the slide 74 and the cutter 73. i

An actuator element 90, fixedly mounted at 91 on the piston rod 81, carries an adjustable member 92 in its lower end, positioned to engage the finger 64 during outward movement of the piston rod 81 to operate the cutter 73 so that the feeding finger 64 will be moved out of engagement with the wire and held by the latch 69 as shown.

100 of an air cylinder 101. The air cylinder 101 is Y mounted upon a horizontal portion 102 of the bracket 99 and is adapted to cause its piston rod 100 to move the feeder 98 between its up or receiving position, shown in solid lines, and its down or feeding position, shown in broken lines in FIG. 3. The Vfeeder 98 has a fixed jaw 103 and a movable jaw 104 of the general contours shown in FIGS. 3 and 6 with cooperating curved portions providing aligned openingsto form a mouth 105 to readily receive the leading end of the wire 20 or the length of wire 18 out therefrom.

The movable jaw 104 is a part of Va member 106,`pivotally mounted at 107, and normally urged by'a spring 108 into closed position governed by a projection 109 engaging a portion of the feeder 98. It will be apparent,

by viewing FIG. 6, that when the jaws 103 and 104 areY in closed position, they do not vengage each other but aresufficiently closed to hold the length of wire 18 without gripping it in the mouth 10S. A rod-like actuator `110,- extending through and supported by spaced portionsof the jaw 104, is adapted to .engage surfaces 111 of upwardly extending portions of the nest 12, when the feeder approaches its down position to cause clockwise movement of the member 106 about its pivot 107r to thereby open the jaws by actually moving the jaw 184 away from the jaw 103, to allow the length of wire 18 to drop into the portion10 of the nest.

Operation air cylinder 101 for moving the feeder 98 between its up and down positions, are not shown, but it should be understood that these various means are synchronized tofunction in their predetermined order to intermittently move the. nests into the feeding'stations'l and 17 and to operate the apparatus associated with each feeding station to feed 4 1 Y f t each nest at the first feeding station 16. At one of the other stations between ,the first feeding station 16 and theV second feeding rstation 17 aipair of wafers is deposited on the inner end of the rst lead or length of wire 18 at a portion 112 of the rest 12 so that at station 17, the lead consisting .of the length of wire 18 :deposited at Ythat station, willhave its inner end lyingon the wafers and rest. ing i-n the portion 112 ofthe nest. z l

At the beginning of each operating cycle ofthe apparatus, shown particularly in FIGS. 2, 3, and 4, grouped as shown in FIG. 5,* the carriage 43 is moved to its forward position as shown in solid lines in FIG. 3, at which time the feeder 98 is Vat its upper position to align the mouth 105 with the pathof the wire to receive the leading end of the wire 20pwhich, when cut, will be identilied as the length of wire 18. Y Y l During the forward movement of the carriage, the feeding finger 64 engages the wireand forces the wire, through the assistance ofthe spring 66,;against the surface 63 to cause the wire to advance with the carriage. The finger 36, althoughengaging the wire under the forcepof its spring 39, will not prevent longitudinal advancement of the Ywire to cause the projecting portion which will constitute the length of wire 18 advancing in front of the carriage to move into the mouth 10S of the feeder 98. At the end 'of this forward movement, the air cylinder 82 is actuated to'move the piston rod 81to ltherright causing movement Yof the connecting means 78 and 85 to move the cutter 73 to the position shown in FIG. 3 to cut the of the cutter 73 inthe down position is followed immediately by its movement into Vthe up position through the action of the air cylinder `82.

The action of the air cylinder 101, to move the feeder 98, may begin during the cutting operation so thatduring movement of the cutter 73 throughthe wire 20 to sever the portion 18 therefrom, maycause the feeder 98 to follow inthis motion, thus beginning its downward movement to deposit Ythe length of wire 18 in .the portion10 .of the nest. This downward movement may be varied by variation in the position of an adjustable stop 114, inthe bracket 99, to varyY a downwardr'novement of a portion 115 of the feeder which` will engage the stop at the end of the Vfeeders downward movement. This adjustable means is desirable in assuring engagement of the actuator 110 with the surface 111 of the nest to causeopening of the jaw 104 to free the length of wire 18. V'I'hewire l18, when freed, will drop' ashort distance intothe nest 'so that during upward movement of the feeder 98, resulting in the closing of the jaw V104Y as the actuator 110 moves` free of the surface 111,will notV result in gripping ofthe wire but will allow the wire to rest below the jawsV 103 and 104. t y

The action of the air cylinder 101 is similar to the action `ofthe `air cylinder 82 in rthat the downward stroke of the feeder 98 is'followed immediately by the upward stroke of the feeder, there being a time gap suicient only for thedropping of the length of wire 18'into the nest when thejawV 104 is opened. The actuating means for thecarriage 43 need not wait for the Yreturn of the J feeder 98 to its up position or the completion` of its down lengths of wires to the respective portions 10 and 11 of the nest at those stations.

It is important that a length of wire for one of the leads of each component be placed in the portion 10 of strokebut duringV the operation'` of thefeeder after the vlength ofk wire`18 has been cut, the carriage may be returned to its starting `or back positionx Prior to this action, however, and during-the operation fof the-cutter 73, the member 92 has engaged the feeding finger 64 to moveit into the latched position shown where `it will be freed of the wire 20 during the return movement of the carriage 43.. Therefore, during this action of the apparatus, the wire 20 will be held firmly by the finger 36 so that the'carriage will move relative to the wire 20 allowing a predetermined length of the leadingrend of the wire to project to the rightbeyond' the carriage which will constitute the next` length 18 to be cut from the wire.

When the carriage reaches its back position, the portion 95 of the latch 69 has engaged the adjustable member 96 causing rocking movement of the latch 69 about its pivot 70 to free the feeding finger 64 and allow its spring 66 to again force it into close engagement with the wire against the surface 63 to assure advancement of the wire during the next forward movement of the carriage 43. These operations are continued during each interval of rest of the turret so that lengths of wire may be fed to the portions 10 and 11 at feeding stations 16 and 17 respectively. v

It is to be understood that the above described arrangements are simply illustrative of the application of the principles of the invention. Numerous other arrangements may be readily devised by those skilled in the art which will embody the principles of the invention and fall within the spirit and scope thereof.

What is claimed is: v

1. A wire feeding apparatus in combination with a turret rotated intermittently between intervals of rest to locate wire receiving nests, having upwardly extending projections and disposed at spaced radially positioned locations on the turret, successively in a feeding station, the apparatus comprising:

a fixed position frame mounted adjacent the turret and extending over the successive nests disposed in the feeding station,

a feeder for lengths of Wire,

companion jaws for the feeder cooperating to form a mouth for the feeder which is greater in crosssection than the cross-section of the lengths of wire to readily receive the lengths of wire singly when the jaws are closed,

means normally holding the jaws closed to cause them to receive and support the wires singly in the closed mouth of the feeder,

means mounted on the frame and operable to support the feeder and move it between a receiving position above the nest at the feeding station and a feeding position in engagement with the nest,

means to feed the lengths of wire longitudinally singly into the closed mouth of the feeder, and

means carried by the feeder to engage the projection of the nest at the feeding station to open the jaws to free the length of wire to leave the mouth and lie in the nest.

6 r 2. A wire feeding apparatus in combination with a turret rotated intermittenly between intervals of rest to locate first and second wire receiving portions of radially positioned nests with intermediate holders for overlapping wire ends and upwardly extending projections, successively in first and second feeding stations,

the apparatus comprising:

fixed positioned frames mounted adjacent the turret and extending over the respective first and second portions of the successive nests at the first and second feeding stations,

a feeder for a length lof wire at each station,

companion jaws for each feeder cooperating to form a mouth therefor which Ais greater in cross-section than the cross-section of the lengths of wire to readily receive the lengths of wires when the jaws are closed,

means for each feeder normally holding the jaws closed to cause them to receive and support the wires in the closed mouths of the feeders,

means mounted on the frames and operable to support the feeders and move them between receiving positions above the nests of their receiving positions above their portions of the nests and feeding positions in engagement With said nest portions,

means to feed lengths of wires longitudinally singly into the closed mouths of the feeders, and

means carried by the feeders to engage the projections of their nest portions at the feeding stations to open the jaws to free the lengths of wires to leave the mouths of the feeders and lie in their respective nest portions and adjacent ends of the wires overlapping in the intermediate holder.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,347,134 Tzibides July 20, 1920 2,040,028 Smith May 5, 1936 2,389,256 Halstead Nov. 20, 1945 2,924,718 Packard a Feb. 9, 1960 2,983,987 Shafer May 16, 1961 3,018,679 Crowley Jan. 30, 1962 3,048,281 Godfrey Aug. 7, 1962 FOREIGN PATENTS 31,576 Netherlands NOV. 16, 1933 

1. A WIRE FEEDING APPARATUS IN COMBINATION WITH A TURRET ROTATED INTERMITTENTLY BETWEEN INTERVALS OF REST TO LOCATE WIRE RECEIVING NESTS, HAVING UPWARDLY EXTENDING PROJECTIONS AND DISPOSED AT SPACED RADIALLY POSITIONED LOCATIONS ON THE TURRET, SUCCESSIVELY IN A FEEDING STATION, THE APPARTUS COMPRISING: A FIXED POSITION FRAME MOUNTED ADAJCENT THE TURRET AND EXTENDING OVER THE SUCCESSIVE NEST DIPOSED IN THE FEEDING STATION, A FEEDER FOR LENGTHS OF WIRE, COMPANION JAWS FOR THE FEEDER COOPERATING TO FORM A MOUTH FOR THE FEEDER WHICH IS GREATER IN CROSSSECTION THAN THE CROSS-SECTION OF THE LENGTHS OF WIRE TO READILY RECEIVE THE LENGTHS OF WIRE SINGLY WHEN THE JAWS ARE CLOSED, MEANS NORMALLY HOLDING THE JAWS CLOSED TO CAUSE THEM TO RECEIVE AND SUPPORT THE WIRES SINGLY IN THE CLOSED MOUTH OF THE FEEDER, MEANS MOUNTED ON THE FRAME AND OPERABLE TO SUPPORT THE FEEDER AND MOVE IT BETWEEN A RECEIVING POSITION ABOVE THE NEST AT THE FEEDING STATION AND A FEEDING POSITION IN ENGAGEMENT WITH THE NEST, MEANS TO FEED THE LENGTHS OF WIRE LONGITUDINALLY SINGLY INTO THE CLOSED MOUTH OF THE FEEDER, AND MEANS CARRIED BY THE FEEDER TO ENGAGE THE PROJECTION OF THE NEST AT THE FEEDING STATION TO OPEN THE JAWS TO FREE THE LENGTH OF WIRE TO LEAVE THE MOUTH AND LIE IN THE NEST. 